Honda is advancing its manufacturing efficiency and standardizing ICE lineups with modular platforms supporting IC and hybrid powertrains, while aggressively expanding its EV lineup globally through partnerships, especially with GM. Hertz is slowing its EV fleet growth due to high collision repair costs and declining residual values, despite ongoing commitments. Mercedes is integrating ChatGPT for employee productivity and launching electric trucks in the US market. Toyota is significantly boosting US EV battery production, and Ford is expanding access to Tesla superchargers. Additionally, a new affordable electric crossover with advanced autonomous tech debuts from GLY and ByD.
Topics:honda manufacturing efficiencyice and hybrid platform standardizationhonda ev expansion and partnershipshertz ev fleet pullbackmercedes chatgpt integrationelectric trucks us markettoyota ev battery investmentford tesla supercharger accesselectric crossover with autonomous techcollision repair costs for evs
- Honda Standardizing ICE Lineups and Powertrains - Hertz Pulls Back EV Expansion - Stellantis Says It Was Least Affected by Strikes - Mercedes Bringing ChatGPT to Employees - New EV Truck Brand Close to U.S. Sales - Toyota Boosts EV Battery Production - Ford Expands Its Charging Network - Geely and Baidu Launch Affordable AV Tech - A Couple of Unique Sightings Around Detroit
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Handa made some really impressive gains in manufacturing efficiency last fiscal year, and it's poised to keep the momentum going. It says the break even point for
production capacity improved from about ninety percent to roughly eighty percent, which means it can build ten percent fewer cars and still make the same amount of money.
Honda is also accelerating the standardization of its IC lineups and powertrain options, and says it will migrate name plates like CRV and Accord to a new modular platform that supports both IC and hybrid setups, but to keep them competitive, they will get the same or similar state of the art features as EVS, including advanced safety tech. Speaking of Honda's EVS, it's launching the e n Y
one in year very soon, as well as several EVS in China and Electric Kvan in Japan, and the Prologue and the Accurate ZDX in North America next year. Those last two are from its partnership with GM, and Honda says
collaboration on evs is essential to its future and it's trying to make it easier within the company to work with others. Areas it plans to partner up include
charging technology, software, digital services, and batteries. The evs it starts
launching in North America in twenty twenty five, which will be built on a new dedicated EV platform from Honda, will be the first to feature its new operating system. By twenty thirty, Honda thinks about forty percent of its total
sales will be electric and fuel cell vehicles, and after plant retoolings, it will make two million evs a year by the same time. By twenty forty,
it expects one hundred percent of its sales to be EV's in few uele sells. To help realize those goals, Honda is bringing its EV operations together
more, establishing the Electrification Business Development Operations, and it hopes to be completely self sufficient in the EV business by twenty thirty. Rental car company Hurts is
pulling back on its EV expansion. It no longer plans for a quarter of
its fleet to be EV's by the end of next year, and has slowed down the pace at which it's adding evs. Hertz previously said it would buy
one hundred thousand Teslas and one hundred and seventy five thousand evs from GM, but right now it only has about fifty thousand evs in its fleet, eighty percent of which are Tesla's. To be fair, it says it's still committed
to buying the remaining evs, just not as quickly. One of the more
interesting reasons for the EV pullback is higher than expected repair costs. It's not
general maintenance stuff that's still cheaper for evs, it's the collision and damage repair costs, which Hurt says can often be double what the same repair would be on an IC car. The other main reason for the EV pullback is lowering
residual values. Since eighty percent of its EV fleet are Tesla's and Tesla has
been the most aggressive with price cuts, the value of its EV fleet has gone down considerably. The UAW and uniform strikes costs to Lantis more than three
billion dollars in revenue, but the company says it was the least affected of the Detroit automakers, and the strikes only cut seven hundred and ninety five million dollars from its operating profits. The automaker sold one point foury eight million vehicles
globally in the third quarter, up eleven percent from a year ago, and its BEV sales were up thirty seven percent. That helped boost its revenue seven
percent to nearly forty eight billion dollars in Q three, and despite the dent the strikes put in its revenue, Stillant has maintained its full year guidance for a double digit margin on its operating profit. We want to know what drives
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Mercedes isn't just bringing AI into its cars, It's also applying the tech inside the company. Mercedes is launching a chat GPT function for employees so they
can work more efficiently. For example, it says they could use it to
help make emails, reports and other work documents, or even summarize longer texts.
It will first be available in English and German, and Mercedes says most of its w will be able to use the chat GPT feature by the end of the year. Riizin which is the new division formed by Daimler Truck to
sell all electric Class four and five trucks in the US has achieved full homologation for the market. That's one of the last steps before it can start selling
its trucks, which are really just rebadged versions of the Fuso Ecanter, another brand owned by Daimler Truck. They will offer lithium iron phosphate or LFP batteries
in two sizes that provide between one hundred and ten and one hundred and sixty miles of range. Riisin trucks will be sold exclusively through the Velocity Group,
which has about eighty stores worldwide. Toyota is significantly boosting its investment in EVY
battery production in the US. The automaker is investing an additional eight billion dollars
to build more batteries at a new factory in North Carolina. That brings the
total investment to thirteen point nine billion dollars, which will create five thousand new jobs. Toyota is adding an additional eight BEEV and p HAVE battery production lines
to the two that were previously announced. Production is expected to start in twenty
twenty five, and it will eventually build up to a capacity of thirty gigawatt hours a year by twenty thirty, Ford is expanding the number of Tesla superchargers its customers will have access to in North America. It was originally twelve thousand
superchargers, but Ford increased that to more than fifteen thousand. Ford EV customers
will gain access to the superchargers next year, but no pricing has been announced yet. Ford also revealed that it has added three more charging providers to its
Blue Oval charging network in North America, France's Energy Blink and red E.
They'll add ten thousand more chargers to the network, which puts its total at more than one hundred and six thousand, including eleven thousand, eight hundred fast chargers. GLY and Chinese tech company by dew unveil the first vehicle from their
new joint venture. It's an electric crossover called the Guio one. What's unique
about this vehicle is it's equipped with by dues Apolo autonomous platform. The system
features eleven HD cameras, twelve ultrasonic radars, and five millimeter wave radars.
It's capable of point to point navigation, auto lane changes, and handling highway on and off ramp maneuvers. There are two battery sizes available, A seventy
one point four kilowad hour pack that provides five hundred and fifty kilometers or three hundred and forty two miles of range, and a one hundred kilowad hour pack that provides seven hundred and twenty kilometers or four hundred and forty seven miles of range. Both of those numbers are based on the Chinese test cycle, and
despite all the tech, the model is relatively affordable, with a starting price around thirty five thousand dollars. I've had a couple of sightings in the Detroit
area recently that you might be interested in. First, I've seen several versions
of the new Oshkosh mail truck driving around town. Yes, it looks just
like it does in the pictures, but it's nice to see them moving around on their own power. Last year I saw one on the back of a
flatbed and it was a very early prototype. I could even see a bare
piece of two by four being used to support the front fender. But with
driving examples, Oshkosh might be on track to hit its delivery start in June of next year. The other vehicle I've seen several times now is the Ford
Edge L, which is only available in China. We have no news to
report on this, but it is interesting to see that vehicle being tested in the US. For reference, the Edge L is a three row suv with
a two liter Eco Boost engine that's available as gas only or hybrid. That
brings us to the end of today's show. Thanks for making autoline a part
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